Without wanting to get ahead of myself, this sounds like one of the most promising projects that I’ve read recently. Roger Donaldson’s latest film, Justice, starring Nicolas Cage, January Jones, and Guy Pearce, is out in cinemas here on 18th November, and he’s already lining up a fantastic cast for his next feature, Cities.
Clive Owen (Children of Men) and Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) are already attached, and The Playlist are now reporting that Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia) and Orlando Bloom (The Three Musketeers) are in talks to join too.
“[T]he film is described as a cautionary tale, blending three interlinking story lines—a New York hedge fund manager (Owen) chasing sex, money and power, a Mumbai cop investigating corrupt colleagues (one of whom is Kapoor) and their links to property speculators, and a young London couple finding it difficult to plant a foot on the property ladder. Dunst will play the character of Kate, in Owen’s storyline while Bloom’s role hasn’t been revealed, though we presume he’s one half of the London couple.”
Donaldson has co-written the film with long-time British director-producer, Glenn Wilhide, whose credits include The Royle Family and the Peter Morgan-scripted mini-series, Metropolis, and who makes his writing debut with Cities.
Kapoor was absolutely brilliant in Slumdog Millionaire and in the final season of 24, and Owen is pretty damn excellent in everything I’ve seen him in to date, so the original casting was enough to convince me of how good Cities would be. But now throw in Dunst and Bloom into the mix, and you can colour me ridiculously excited.
Dunst’s most recent turn in Melancholia may be a bit divisive – largely more because the film itself is divisive much more than her performance in it – but I thought it was incredible, and deserved every bit the Best Actress award it won her at Cannes this year. And though I’m yet to see Bloom’s most recent part in The Three Musketeers, I thought he was great in Black Hawk Down way back when, and of course in Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings since then, so I’m expecting good things from him too.
With such a great cast lined up and such an interesting premise, this is definitely showing a lot of promise already. It will be at the American Film Market this week looking for buyers, with production scheduled to start next spring, shooting in London, Mumbai, and New York. I have a really good feeling about this, and can’t wait to hear more about it.
On a less serious note, simply because I happened upon it whilst looking for an image to go with this article (and because it’s Movember now, so it’s somewhat appropriate), here’s a brilliant picture of Kirsten Dunst using Orlando Bloom’s hair as a makeshift moustache. If that doesn’t brighten your day, I don’t know what will.
